When I was in the 8th grade, I held a party and invited half the people in school and “ALL” the pretty girls to it. My next-door neighbor, Joel, was a shy introvert. I was about his only friend and was always trying to get him in with my other friends. Joel loved science and was off the charts smart, but he just could not bring himself to a point of fitting in with all the rest of his classmates. I invited him to my party anyway, all the while knowing that he would never accept. Sure enough, he declined.
The party was rocking on and suddenly everyone smelled a nauseous odor that smelled like a rotten egg. It turns out that Joel had lobbed a homemade stink bomb over the fence. We were all dancing in my garage and everyone came streaming outside to get away from the awful smell of methane. It never did affect my friendship with him because I knew that he was just trying to get attention in the only way that he knew how. The other kids at school were not as amused or kind and made a point to avoid Joel at all costs from that point on. He got his attention all right, but I’m not sure that is the kind of attention that he wanted.
The other day a friend told me that he is now an atheist. He states that he does not believe in God. Personally, I do not believe in atheists. Touché.
To deny the existence of God is foolish and the Bible calls anyone who does so a fool. I believe most atheists are like Joel and just trying to get attention by lobbing a stink bomb at the world and rebelling against the mainstream. Most are pseudo intellectuals and many harp on their academia and brilliance, but even the most brilliant among us Einstein and Hawkins did not deny the existence of a superior being and intelligent design. There is just too much evidence to write it off as some primordial goo developing into life as we know it. I can believe there are agnostics far easier than true atheists.
I am saddened by my friend’s declaration. I have prayed for him and his family often. He does have a free will however, and he has reached an age of accountability. He is making his choice and plain and simple it is his to make. The Bible tells us that apart from God he will spend eternity separated from God and all that is good including light. To deny God is far more serious than throwing a stink bomb over the fence. To deny the existence of our holy God and the sacrifice of His Son Jesus will be dealt with harshly.
With so much at stake I hope that he will revisit his belief system before that fateful day of his demise arrives. He has nothing to base his belief system on, but his gut feeling. He intends to deny all of creation based on a “whim”?
Why?
Whether he wants to or not, one day he will be on his knees bowing before the Lord and confessing and praising the holy name Of Jesus. He can do it in this life and go on to paradise or do it at the judgment prior to departing for hell. I wish I knew how to help him, but I am convinced some folks will refuse our best efforts and the pull of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, I keep trying, if not entirely for him, then all of the folks he affects including his young family.
Romans 14:11
For it is written, “As certainly as I live, declares the Lord,
every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will praise God.”